National Report: Wisconsin Ranks 30th in Protecting Kids from Tobacco

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Wisconsin ranks 30th in the nation in funding programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.

Wisconsin currently spends $5.3 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 8.2 percent of the $64.3 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other key findings for Wisconsin include:

Wisconsin this year will collect $718 million in revenue from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 0.7 percent of it on tobacco prevention programs. This means Wisconsin is spending less than a penny of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use.

While Wisconsin's current funding for tobacco prevention is the same as last year, it represents a 65 percent cut from the $15.3 million spent in 2009.

The tobacco companies spend $133.7 million a year to market their products in Wisconsin. This is 25 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.

The annual report on states' funding of tobacco prevention programs, titled "Broken Promises to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 14 Years Later," was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.

Wisconsin has been a leader in the fight against tobacco with a cigarette tax of $2.52 per pack, a strong smoke-free workplace law and its tobacco prevention and cessation program. Since 1999, Wisconsin has cut smoking among high school students by 62 percent (from 38.1 percent to 14.6 percent who smoke). However, the state currently is spending only 8.2 percent of what the CDC recommends for tobacco prevention.

"Wisconsin has made tremendous progress in the fight against tobacco. But the state's gains are at risk unless it restores funding for programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "Even in these difficult budget times, tobacco prevention is a smart investment that saves lives and saves money by reducing tobacco-related health care costs."

In Wisconsin, 14.6 percent of high school students smoke, and 7,400 more kids become regular smokers each year. Tobacco annually claims 7,200 lives and costs the state $2 billion in health care bills.

Nationally, the report finds that most states are failing to adequately fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Key national findings of the report include:

The states this year will collect $25.7 billion from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 1.8 percent of it – $459.5 million – on tobacco prevention programs. This means the states are spending less than two cents of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use.

States are falling woefully short of the CDC's recommended funding levels for tobacco prevention programs. Altogether, the states have budgeted just 12.4 percent of the $3.7 billion the CDC recommends.

Only two states – Alaska and North Dakota – currently fund tobacco prevention programs at the CDC-recommended level.

As the nation implements health care reform, the report warns that states are missing a golden opportunity to reduce tobacco-related health care costs, which total $96 billion a year in the U.S. One study found that during the first 10 years of its tobacco prevention program, Washington state saved more than $5 in tobacco-related hospitalization costs for every $1 spent on the program.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., killing more than 400,000 people each year. Nationally, 19 percent of adults and 18.1 percent of high school students smoke.